At least 27 people killed after ‘knife-wielding mobs’ attack police stations and government building in western China

At least 27 people have been killed after gangs armed with knives attacked a police station and a local government building in a remote region of western China today, according to state media.

The Xinhua agency said mobs in the Xinjiang region – home to a large Muslim Uighur minority – set upon buildings in the township of Lukqun at around 6am local time, stabbing people and setting fire to police cars.

Nine police officers and security guards and eight civilians were killed before police opened fire on the attackers, leaving 10 dead, regional Communist Party officials told the agency.

The reported unrest in the region was the deadliest since July 2009, when nearly 200 people were killed in riots pitting Uighurs against ethnic Chinese in the region’s capital Urumqi.